Dark Horses

Dark Horses Qualifying Round

In 2026, The Dark Horses Qualification goes viral

Think you’ve got the best air guitar moves in the world? Prove it!

Send us your air guitar video – 30 will go through to a Virtual first round event for Dark Horses, and 5-10 of the best will make it to the live Dark Horses in Oulu, Finland.

Create a one-minute video showing off your ultimate solo performance — no edits, no cuts, just one camera and one take. You must perform alone, but you can go wild with costumes, props, and attitude. Use your own music or a mix of tracks — whatever makes your performance rock.

Everyone who enters the competition with a video, will have the chance to perform in Oulu in the opening number of the Live Event. All videos will also be shown in a video show at the 2026 festivities.

Why is it different?

Oulu is the European Capital of Culture in 2026, and Air Guitar World Championships is a part of the Delta Life grand finale. The 3-day-event is the culmination of the whole summer. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform at a very special stage built  on the birthplace of Oulu on the water over the delta area in Oulu, and an unique chance to be a part of the Culture Capital year. This is the biggest and fanciest stage that air guitar has ever taken over.

Competition Process 

 Entry application is open from 14th of April 2026 to April 30th 2026 until 4pm Finnish time.

In case of over 30 participants, A pre-jury will review all entries and select 30 videos to compete in the Virtual Dark Horses (round 1).

The Virtual Event takes place on June 6, 2026, featuring international judges who will watch and score each of the 30 videos live.

The 5–10 highest-scoring performers will advance to the Live Dark Horses (round 2) in August 2026 in Oulu, Finland. The number of round two competitors depends on the Delta Life schedule, which will be confirmed in the spring of 2026.

Sign-Up Rounds

Signing up to 2026 will open on this page.

The form to send videos through is open April 14–30, 2026. The Form will close April 30 at 4pm Finnish time (EEST).

Video Requirements

• Must be horizontal
• You have one minute for the air guitar performance (music track must be 60 seconds max).
• In addition you can use 10 seconds at the start of the performance to “enter” the video and set the tone, and 5 seconds at the end after the music has ended.
• Entry application is open from 14th of April 2026 to April 30.4. until 4pm Finnish time.
• All entries must be submitted and paid before the closing time.
• Make sure your video shows off your air guitar skills in the best possible way.

Rules

Both the pre-jury and the Virtual Event judges will judge on the same criteria:

1. Originality
2. Ability to be taken over by the music
3. Stage presence
4. Technical merit
5. Artistic impression
6. Airness

Selection 

To ensure fairness and equality, in the case of over 30 videos submitted:

The pre-jury will first select the best video from each country that holds an official National Championship (“official Dark Horse”). 

After that, all other submitted videos — including those from countries without a National Championship — will be scored, and Round 1 competitors will be selected based on their scores. In case of a large number of competitors, each country may have a maximum of three spots in Round 1 (in addition to the official Dark Horse).

Each competitor must represent the country in which they primarily reside.

The Virtual Event takes place on June 6, 2026, featuring international judges who will watch and score each of the 30 videos live.

The 5–10 highest-scoring performers will advance to the Live Dark Horses (round 2) in August 2026 in Oulu, Finland. The number of round two competitors depends on the Delta Life schedule, which will be confirmed in the spring of 2026.

In the event of a tie, the judges won’t rescore — they’ll simply vote between the tied videos, and the video(s) with the majority of votes will move forward.

Additional information

In the video, all kinds of props are ok, as long as they are not used as a guitar – as per the rules, the instrument must be purely air. However, if you make it to round 2 in Oulu, please note that nothing can be left on stage – no confetti, theatre glass, powder, etc!